After taking two months off for the holidays, our 5 Star Makeover cooking group is back together for a new exciting year. This month our theme is meatballs. It is a fun challenge to try to transform this classic comfort dish into a gourmet dish. I am looking forward to seeing everyone's unique creations which will be posted here this Friday! For my dish, I have decided to make Chinese fusion meatballs to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year, 5-Spice Duck Meatballs with Scallion Bacon Pancakes and Hoisin Mayo.
To make the meatballs, I put the duck meat, trimmed of skin and fat, through the grinder, along with onions.
Then I mixed the ground duck meat mixture with Panko breadcrumbs moistened with a little bit of cream, salt, pepper, and 5-spice. I formed the meatballs and fried them in hot chili oil and melted butter.
In addition to scallions I added Mangalitsa bacon pieces (from Marx Foods) to the pancakes. Hoisin mayo was a combination of homemade mayonnaise and Hoisin sauce. The savory and rich Mangalitsa bacon, aromatic 5 spice, the sweet Hoisin sauce and a bit of a spicy kick from the hot chili oil were an excellent combination in this dish.
